Banisadr, Iran’s first president after 1979 revolution, dies

By AMIR VAHDAT and JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Abolhassan Banisadr, Iran’s first president after the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution who fled Tehran after being impeached for challenging the growing power of clerics as the nation became a theocracy, has died. He was 88. His family and Iranian state television made the announcement Saturday. They said he had suffered from a long illness, without elaborating. Among a sea of black-robed Shiite clerics, Banisadr stood out for his Western-style suits and French background. He would never consolidate his grip on the government he supposedly led as events far beyond his control — including the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis and the invasion of Iran by Iraq — only added to the tumult that followed the Islamic Revolution.